Local retailers were inspired to visually transform Clarinda Street at a recent Back to Business Week workshop. Fifteen retail operators took part in the Parkes Shire Council’s retail revamp program. It was aimed at inspiring small to medium business operators to rethink visual merchandising.

In association with the Department of Industry, visual merchandising specialist, Carol Bagaric from AusVM hosted four workshops. “The strength and power of the Parkes retailers coming together, helping each other make statements with their shop windows, whilst having a giggle and networking, was so refreshing to see,” said Carol.

Participants learnt about trends, colours and theory practices to create a visual story in their shop window displays.
Parkes Newsagency, Parkes Stationery and Office Furniture and Parkes Sportspower enabled the participants to put theory into practice within their stores. “We loved having the girls in store implementing the practices within our business,” said Christine and Chloe form Parkes Newsagency.

Local community organisations and businesses are one step closer to funding their next project thanks to the funding forums that were held in the Parkes Shire Library’s Coventry Room last Thursday. Two dozen people attended the grantwriting workshops facilitated by Parkes Shire Council’s Grants Officers Sally Chapman and Ellie O’Donoghue. The workshops were designed to give participants the skills to make their project submissions more likely to succeed. The attendees included representatives from local community groups as well as businesses and individuals who have ideas for community projects.

The forums opened with a brainstorming session to encourage participants to look for synergies between projects, and facilitate networking. The participants were told that one of the keys to successful submissions is to look for appropriate grants, but also broaden the scope and look outside-the-box; for example a youth arts project could qualify for grants that target either youth or arts.

Eligibility is vital for funding success, and community grants must demonstrate the need for the project and state its benefit to the local community. Crucially, community grants cannot benefit an individual or business, or be used to fund recurring expenses or debts. Applicants should indicate how the grant money will be spent, attaching quotes where possible.

The facilitators also urged the participants be aware of acquittal requirements. Keeping records and photographs make the final reporting process easier. Elysha Loiterton, Northparkes External Community Relations Advisor attended the afternoon session to share advice on applying for a Northparkes Community Investment Program, encouraging participants to take advantage of the $80,000 that is allocated for local community initiatives each year.

The Parkes & District Historical Society will be holding it’s annual Smoke Rust and Noise Day on Sunday, 2nd April at Henry Parkes Museum antique machinery site. This will be our 22nd year of having a Start Up Day (as we used to call it). The day will be a celebration of 50 years of the Henry Parkes Museum and 47 years of the Antique Machinery Museum.

Special visitors on the day will include the Armstrong Siddely Car Club and hopefully the Small Engine Group from Mumbil. The 2nd of April will also commence our year of special displays. We will celebrate our history and heritage by showcasing a number of items, as well as the history of Radio 2PK – The Voice of the Golden West – for its 80th anniversary. The 2PK Sunshine Club had up to 5,000 members while the 11am playing of Painting the Clouds with Sunshine was very popular too. The Forbes and Trundle Clubs are still going today. The clubs raised thousands of dollars for the Royal Far West Children’s Health Scheme. Researching its history is ongoing and has been very interesting.

For just $5 entry you will see, hear and smell some rare tractors and stationary engines on 2nd April. Our main museum will be part of the entry with our newest displays on show. A barbeque lunch will be available on the day.
All money raised will go to several of our special restoration projects. Make sure to keep 2nd April open in your diary to come and spend some time at your local museum.

By Yvonne Hutton

Not all attention is good attention, and who wants to be under the attention of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)? Even if you haven’t done anything wrong the time involved is often inconvenient. Keep up-to-date. Keep your tax returns, activity statements and tax office payments up to date. If you are not up to date, the ATO takes this as a warning sign and they start to look closer.

In the digital age where information is easily collected, the ATO has a huge database of information available to it. The ATO uses small business benchmarks to compare the financial performance between businesses. They use key statistics from all the tax returns submitted for your industry, to compare your results to other businesses.

If your results vary greatly from the norm, the result can be greater scrutiny by the tax office. The ATO also make wide use of data matching. Bought a luxury car? Sold a property? Sold shares? Selling on ebay? The ATO have access to a wide range of government and private agency databases. The data obtained from these databases is used to cross-match taxpayers reported information.

Live a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget, expect an audit. Another way to ask for an audit is to not pay your employee obligations. Keep up to date with your superannuation payments, the ATO can now easily track superannuation paid via Superstream. All it takes is one disgruntled employee to complain.

If you do get an audit make sure your accountant supports you through it, it could make a huge difference.

By Samantha Bennett

GET INVOLVED IN SKYWRITERS!
Have you gazed at the night sky with wonder, curiosity and awe? Yes? Then you are ready to become a skywriter! Writers and aspiring writers in the Parkes Shire are invited to join the Big Skies Collaboration Skywriters project to author stories, in any genre, that have a celestial (about the stars) theme. The Parkes Skywriters hub will offer a series of free writing workshops, plus support from professional editors, to author new works to publication quality.
Launch: Wednesday 22nd March at 10am at the Parkes Library. Please RSVP on 6861 2309. If you are interested in becoming a skywriter and are unable to make the launch register your interest with Shellie, shellie.buckle@parkes.nsw.gov.au or 6861 2338.

AUSTRALIAN INSPIRATION TRAVELLING EXHIBITION
24th March to 6th April. Before they became celebrated Australian icons, the koala and waratah left early colonists almost star struck by their unique appearance! Explore how the koala and the waratah were first depicted over 200 years ago, and how they have evolved over time to quickly become national icons at a State Library of NSW travelling exhibition at Parkes Library. Australian Inspiration will not only tell the evolving story of our national icons, but also showcase the role of the State Library of NSW’s extraordinary collections in arts and design.

WASTE TO ART ANNUAL COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION
Waste to Art is a community exhibition showcasing imaginative works made from reused and recyclable waste materials. The aim is to challenge peoples’ perceptions about rubbish and to celebrate the reuse and recycling of waste through arts and crafts. Entries close 1pm on Monday 10th April.